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Given that the NSA will likely have a backdoor into any automated driving system, is this really a technology you'd like to see become all pervasive? "We don't like this guy's ideology - ok, let's arrange for him to have an 'accident'".

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They control killer robots in the sky with missiles... It doesn't really get worse than that...

That's a much more obvious way of doing away with someone though. Having a car experience a 'software failure' and driving you into a wall at 80MPH, is less so.

If the government was willing to pull those kind of tactics to have you killed, I'm pretty sure they could do it without self-driving cars.

Your government maybe. What about North Korea's government?

They also have many methods at their disposal - North Korea's government can throw you in a labour camp easily enough.

In the US, a car accident in an environment where accidents are less common (presumably the case with robo-cars) will stand out more.

Minority Report comes to mind. And, I, Robot (I think). That's just a few examples of stories in which futuristic cars are conveniently control-able by the police when necessary.

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